First day out takes us north on US 19 near the west coast of Fl. thru primarily logging country, whitch translates to very little traffic. Then into Ga. & starting to get a little rolling hills, stopping for the night at Windsor Hotel in Americus, Ga. This is truly a great place to stop, built in 1892 but has many modern upgrades. On site restaurant and lounge, and has been said to be haunted on the third floor! We have stayed there 3 different times.
Day two takes us to Chattanooga. ALERT! When approaching Rome, Ga. don't follow my route thru town. This may be one of the worse towns I have ever rode thru. Vey dangerous drivers all! Use the route to the east to be safe. Most all roads on this day good to ride and moderate to no traffic(except Rome). Chattanooga was a great surprise. I had not been thier is 30 years. The city has made an incredible change. It was once considered the dirtiest city in the southeast. NO MORE! Downtown was very clean, the historic district fun to walk around and explore. The largest pedestrian bridge in the world takes you to very different sides of the city. I definately want to go back and spend a few days!
Day three to Franfort, Ky. I like days like these, as you get on one road and don't have to worry about finding others while you are enjoying the scenery and the good ride. Go thru the small towns you will find this day. When coming into Frankfort as soon as you cross the river, the Capital Plaza Hotel will be the first street & turn to left. This is a nice place to stay with surprisingly good rates.
Day four to Sidney Oh. Crossing into In. and following SR 56 & US 50 along the river was a nice scenic ride. SR 1, 101 & US 27 all good scenic rides. SR 227 & US 47 into Sidney were typical In. & Oh. flat farmland roads.
We spent two days in Sidney visiting family, no riding except for traveling between houses and an emergency room visit for me. Bad case of poison ivy! Another story for another time.
Day seven to Youngstown, Oh. About 20 minutes north of Sidney on SR 47, we hit a stetch of road that all fans of roller coasters should ride. For 15-20 minutes we were riding whoop-de-doos that would lift my Street Glide off the ground at 55 mph!! Found myself smiling realy big, only to look back at Flash on her Road King with just as big a grin!! From there we headed on, seeking Amish country. I think the intersection of SR 229 & I-71 is close to the beginning of the Amish area. Continuing East on US 36 & US 62 you will encounter many Amish farms and their buggys along thhe road. Be sure to stop in Millersburg, which has the largest Amish population in the world. A great place to eat and do the tourist thing for a while.
We stayed in Youngstown 2 days visiting family. Not much riding. I was ready to hit the road.
Day ten we headed for Marietta, Oh. US 30 down to East Liverpool was uneventfull, but good asphalt. There we took SR 7 along the river to Clarington. I love riding along the great rivers in the states, because many areas don't change a lot over the years. Stopped for gas in Clarington & met 5 'Old Timers' sitting on pieces of cardboard on the sidewalk, you could tell this was a regular occurance. Stopped and talked a while with them, as always it turns out to be one of my favorite stops! They are pretty excited that Ragan(Flash) comes in riding her own bike and the conversations begin. We head on over to Woodsfield to take SR 26, because we are hunting Ohio Covered Bridges. SR 26 doesn't fail us as we found several! Lots of fun riding off onto the gravel roads on a couple of them. In Marietta, we stay at The Lafayette. Built in 1918 it is a grand old place. Room rate was $65!!! Thought that was a bargain. Good restaurant & lounge. Hotel sits on the Ohio River & the Muskingham, along with a beautiful park and historic downtown area within walking distance.
Yes, we did go offroad a little to find some bridges!
Day 11 we are headed for Fayetteville, WV. We make a short trip on SR 7 north along the river to cross over into WV at St. Marys. Here we pick up the best road I have ever ridden that I had never heard anything about! SR 16 has everything you could want in riding and spaced out just right! Started out easy and soon we were in switch backs, just as I would think it would be nice to put my feet up on the highway pegs, it changes to rolling along a river or move down into a valley, then when I was thinking I needed some more mountain passes..there they were!! We totally enjoyed this road. We did leave SR 16 @ Gauley Bridge to get over to New River Gorge, also worth the time. We spent the night @ The Quality Inn New River Gorge. Full restaurant and lounge on site. (notice the pattern on hotels) lol
Day 12 headed for Mountain City, Tn.(didn't happen) We were going to ride SR 16
all the way to Volney, Va. But we got caught in a rain storm around Squire, WV. We stopped at a gas station/store to put on gear and it turned really BAD!! I spoke with the locals and they said that I had about 10 miles across the mountain to Tazewell to get a room for the night, but that it was 10-12 miles of some hard pulls across the top. We waited for about 20 minutes and weather reports were for flash floods in the area until the next afternoon. So we geared up, about that time a local rider pulled in from the direction we were headed, he said he stopped only to relax for a minute as he was headed to work. 'The storm has been really bad' he said, 'but if you are going, go now, as it seemed to have eased up'! So we took off for Tazewell, got there and the manager of the local McDonalds said go either 15 miles west or 15 miles east, as the only place in town was full of bugs! Well we headed west in the storm for Claypool Hill, and as we crested the hill into town, there it was...big green sign that said Holiday Inn!!!!
Day 13. Now we are off course and more storms are headed to this area. After 11 straight days of beautiful weather, it was our time I guess. Now we set our sights on visiting friends in Boiling Springs, NC. We had not really been on interstates so we jumped on I-81 to I-26 as both of these are decent highways. On I-26 I saw a sign for Andrew Johnson birthplace and took that exit. No more info other than turn here. Well 1.5 hours later we end up in Greeneville, Tn. only by stopping and asking folks along the way, and way off course...but that is ok because I found a great road to Asheville froim there!! SR 70/208 and US 25. Make sure to take US 25BR into Marshall, as there are a couple great places to eat there. Then follow the river and SR 251 all the way into Asheville. We spent the rest of the day and the night with our friends Rick & Jackie Haley in Boiling Springs.
Day 14. Rick & Jackie rode with us the next morning about 100 miles so they could show us one of their favorite rides on our way. They took us to Ceasar's Head, SC. Definately worth your time if in the area. We also hit more of those damn storms. Rick & Jaclie turned and headed for home after a stop for lunch. We geared up for bad weather and hit the road. Ended up stopping for the night in Lovonia, SC as it just got too dangerous to ride.
Day 15. We are now so far off the route I wanted to take, that I just pulled out the map and said 'we are going this way'! We went for 15 minutes and the sky opened up and the lightning started to flash! We were on back roads with not much else to do than push on. From what we could see it was a nice ride. We made Waycross, Ga. exhausted from a really rough day and called it a night.
Woke up the next morning to rain clouds and hit the road. No rain and the sun came out for an entire day in the sun!!! Good old sunshine state welcoming us home. Stopped in Micanopy for lunch at one our favorite places on our way home. JUST A GREAT COUPLE WEEKS ON THE ROAD!!
This is a motorcycle ride in the states Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virgina, North Carolina, South Carolina. This motorcycle route has 11 scenery characteristics and other road conditions to help you plan your road trip. This motorcycle map was created by felon in July. Click here to see other Motorcycle Roads by felon